The 19 municipalities that are members of the Sierra de Cádiz Rural Development Group (GDR) have participated in the strategy to create tourism experiences linked to the primary sector, an initiative promoted by the Spanish Secretary of State for Tourism, through SEGITTUR.
The work completed in Sierra de Cádiz has been presented by the president of SEGITTUR, Enrique Martínez, together with the vice president of the provincial council, José María Román, and the head of the GDR Sierra de Cádiz, Alfonso Carlos Moscoso.
The participating villages include Alcalá del Valle, Algar, Algodonales, Arcos de la Frontera, Benaocaz, Bornos, El Bosque, El Gastor, Espera, Grazalema, Olvera, Prado del Rey, Puerto Serrano, Setenil de las Bodegas, Torre-Alháquime, Ubrique, Villaluenga del Rosario, Villamartín and Zahara de la Sierra.
The goal of this initiative is to promote the development of tourist services and experiences based on new products that leverage the relationship between tourism and primary sector activities.
With this aim in mind, the situation was assessed to analyse the tourist potential of activities associated with companies in the primary sector. The main findings show heterogeneity in the tourist utilisation of initiatives in the primary sector; the research detected a business opportunity for agri-food companies, which can help to generate greater wealth in the territory.
The Rural Development Group plays an important role in boosting this type of initiatives, which represent a new development opportunity for the territory, as explained by the president of SEGITTUR.
The vice president of the Cadiz provincial council believes that it is possible to create very fruitful partnerships in a region that is lavish in agri-food values (e.g. extra virgin olive oil from mountain olive groves, payoyo cheeses and honey) and that boasts highly recognised tourist attractions such as Sierra de Grazalema, the White Villages, Olvera as the capital of rural tourism, and several municipalities as members of the network of the most beautiful villages in Spain.
Moscoso has defended a strategy that will strengthen companies in the region and generate new flows of tourists. New arrivals who demand “smells, flavours, experiences, authenticity… visitors sensitive to climate change who want to know more about certain foods and what their production means in their territories of origin.”
The strategy to create tourism experiences based on the primary sector establishes five lines of action, ranging from the sector’s professionalisation, through raising the product’s profile, to the generation of synergies between the tourism and primary sectors, the product’s sustainability and market access.
Benefits
The initiative’s benefits for the territory are, for example, promoting the diversification of the tourist product, which contributes, in turn, to improving the destination’s positioning; and helping to boost domestic tourism; and addressing depopulation with tourism as a driving force for local development.
The initiative also contributes to reinforcing the identity and authenticity of a destination and its residents, as well as the improved competitiveness of the companies linked to the primary sector, adapting them to the needs to attract quality tourists who seek to live an experience.
Recommendations Guide
To help entrepreneurs create tourism experiences in the first sector, a guide has been prepared with guidelines.
